DID YOU KNOW?

Aria Energy’s values foster a safe, high-integrity work environment where we employ rigorous analytics to all aspects of our business. We proactively work with the full range of stakeholders for the betterment and well being of our environment and our community.

Landfill gas is a long-term renewable energy resource that is an environmentally sound alternative to fossil fuels. Energy produced from decomposing waste is a reliable fuel option that remains largely untapped at many landfills across the United States. Landfill gas-to-energy (LFG) projects have an added benefit of removing methane from the atmosphere equivalent to 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide according to EPA estimates. Every state that encourages or mandates the use of renewable energy considers LFG to be a renewable resource.

LFG is a readily available energy source that is an alternative to fossil fuels. Consisting of roughly 50% methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its atmospheric warming potential, and 50% carbon dioxide, LFG is produced naturally as waste decomposes. Landfills above a certain size are required to install an LFG collection system to transport the gas to a collection facility. After collection, LFG must be either flared to combust the methane or diverted to a beneficial-use energy project. Using LFG in an energy recovery system requires treatment, the type and extent depending on the energy recovery being produced. LFG projects can include electric power generation, pipeline-quality RNG production or medium Btu gas delivery.

At our 29 owned power projects, LFG is captured and transported through pipelines to our adjacent plants, where it is compressed and filtered for impurities. LFG is then used to power reciprocating generators or gas turbines that transform gases into electricity. Most of our power projects operate at capacity factors in excess of 90%. Aria Energy also operates combined heat and power units, which utilize waste heat from the engines in addition to producing electricity. Electricity is delivered to customers through interconnection lines, which Aria Energy built and maintains at some of their facilities.

Our portfolio of gas projects consists of six owned projects that produce pipeline-quality RNG and two owned projects that deliver medium Btu gas.

The conversion of LFG into pipeline-quality RNG consists of removing the majority of the non-methane components. Gas must be processed to meet pipeline specifications in order to be delivered into interstate pipelines. While the transportation of electricity is regionally constrained, RNG can be transported from coast to coast. Once in the pipeline, RNG can be transported to utilities to generate power, used as transportation fuel or used in generating fuel cell energy anywhere within the North American pipeline system.

Production of medium Btu gas from LFG primarily involves removing water and particulates from LFG, and thus is a simpler process than the conversion of LFG to pipeline-quality RNG. Processed medium Btu gas is typically sold directly to end-users as fuel for boilers and transported through dedicated pipelines that we constructed, own and operate.